Powerful Pasta

How much strength can you build into a bridge made of pasta
and glue? Twelve teams of Hopkins freshmen from an introductory
engineering course took on that challenge recently in the sixth
annual Spaghetti Bridge competition hosted by the Maryland
Science Center. Participants added weight until each span
collapsed. The winning team, consisting of students George
Merrell, Ryan Hanley and Sajod Moradi, created a bridge that held
54 kilograms before breaking. In the photo, a bridge built by
Colby Umbrell and Scott Szydlo collapses after holding 13
kilograms. Outside the regular competition, three teaching
assistants for the class fabricated an aluminum foil bridge that
held 64 kilograms.